A Break from SHEILD
by ahmzzzzz
Summary: Natasha and Clint consider the leave of absence that Fury has offered, but bad things are coming when they find out that Loki has escaped and is coming back for a certain female Avenger. All characters are eventually involved. Clint/Nat, Tony/Pepper, other
1. Chapter 1

**Reviews are greatly appreciated.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE AVENGERS or MARVEL (if I did, then Scarlett and Jeremy would have their own movie together)**

Natasha's POV

As soon as soon as we got back from the battle of New York, Clint kept bugging me to see to doctor. Aside from the million cuts and bruises that I had obtained, I told Clint that I was fine. Off course, he had to go all fatherly on me and forced me to agree to him cleaning up my injuries. As soon as we got back to the helicarrier, he dragged me into my room and pulled me into the bathroom. He made me sit on the sink counter as he stood and took out the first-aid kit that was in the compartment of my medicine cabinet.

"Clint, quit it." I growled as Clint tried to clean the blood off my face with a towel. Off course, he didn't listen. I avoided contact with the rag in protest.

"Nat stop." He said annoyed at me.

"You stop." I said mocking his tone. He glared at me and I smirked at his reaction.

"Dammit Nat, I'm trying to help you." He sighed and turned away from me. He stared at the wall for a few seconds. Then, he exploded. He threw the towel so hard at the wall that it made an echoing sound. I expected him to punch the wall, but he just fell to the ground and started rubbing his forehead.

I started to regret rejecting his help. "Clint?" I said in the softest voice because his body language hinted that he was cooling down from his outrage. As soon as he heard my voice, he turned around, stood up while picking up the towel, and faced me.

"I'm sorry." He apologized with the sincerest of faces. Okay, now I really felt bad. "It's just that I don't . . . I mean I can't . . . stand to see you get hurt." He said as he stoked my face with the towel. He was now making eye-contact with me as our faces were only a few inches away from each other. "Nat, I can't tell you how much pain I feel when I see that you're hurt or put in danger. I just think, maybe you should take a break . . . or a leave." He took a step back and stopped wiping my face.

"Clint, being hurt or in danger is part of the job, remember. It's what I signed up for." I tried to reason with him. He bit his lip from protesting and stared at the floor. "Okay, how about this? We . . . have a compromise." He raised his head in acknowledgement towards me.

"A compromise?" he sounded confused.

"Yes, a compromise. It's what couples" He raised his eyebrow. Wow, did I really just call us a couple? "I mean it's what two people who are having a dispute do."

"I'm listening."

"Remember how Fury said that we deserve a break?" He nodded in response. "I'll take a break for no more than a month if you stop worrying about every little thing that happens to me."

"Can I at least finish cleaning you up though?" I nodded and a smile lit up across his face.

He took the towel and continued to wipe my face. After, he cleaned most of the blood off my face, a big cut on the top of my forehead was revealed. Clint searched through the first-aid kit to and found stitching utensils needed to repair the cut. He began working at once. I tried to ignore the pain, because I didn't want him to worry more than I knew that he already was. After he finished with the stitches, he moved down to the cuts and bruises on my body. He ordered me to strip my clothes and wash down my body. After he left the bathroom, I followed his ideas. He checked on me exactly ten minutes later and handed me sweatpants, a tank top and a comfy sweatshirt. After he gave me time to change, he re-entered the bathroom and continued inspection. The only injury he seemed to really worry about was my bruised ribs in which he wrapped in gauze. Then, he finished up by bandaging some of the millions of cuts, bumps, and bruises on my body.

After Clint played doctor, he immediately made me fulfill the other half of my compromise that I agreed to do.

He dragged me to Fury's office.

"Hello, Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton." Fury acknowledged us. "Is there anything I could do for you?"

"Yes, Nick. There actually is something you could do for us." Clint said getting straight to the point. "We are considering your option of us taking leave." Clint continued on as Fury nodded his head, listening. "We just want a month of absence from all the chaos that we have encountered."

"Alright, a leave of absence is well deserved from the two of you. But, may I ask where you two will be staying?"

Dammit, I totally forgot that I had no place to go. SHIELD was my home. "We'll be staying at the Stark Tower." I looked at him confused, but Fury didn't seemed surprised by Clint's choice of destination. "He offered it to me, as well the rest of the Avengers. He said we would each have a floor to ourselves at the tower. He said something about . . . team bonding or whatever."

"It's more than team bonding. I need you guys to become a family." Fury told us. "That's why I instructed Stark to offer up the tower to you guys. I think we can all see that you guys are already co-workers, but I need you to be a team, heck, I need you to be a family. I need you guys to trust each other."

"So is that a 'yes'?" I asked.

"Yup, I knew the rest of the team wouldn't mind staying with Stark, but I needed you to be on board with the idea." Fury said directly to me.

"Why me?"

"Because I knew if you didn't go, then Barton wouldn't go. And you two are the most secretive out of the whole team."

"Well, we'll try to change that . . . I mean with the rest of the Avenger team . . . at Stark Tower." I said still trying to believe that I was going to move in to there.

"Okay, then. Dismissed.", Fury told us authoritatively.

**To Be Continued (Please Review)**


	2. Chapter 2

Clints's POV

Due to all the chaos in Manhattan, it was impossible for us to drive through it. Luckily, Tony lent me and Natasha one of his private jets to get to our new home. As the plane flew itself on auto-pilot, I stared out the window. Besides the remains of skyscrapers, large amounts of rubble and ash could be distinctively seen from the plane. Broken cars and telephone poles occupied the streets, or at least what was left of them. I sighed softly at the chaos that Loki and his followers had caused. Then I remembered I was one of them. Seeing all this destruction reminded me of the monster that Loki unleashed. This city was proof of that. I started to regret agreeing to live here and bringing Nat with me. As I took one more peak out the window of the chaos, I sighed again and stared at my hands that rested on my lap.

"Are you okay?" Nat asked as she rubbed my hands in comfort.

"All this . . . it's my fault."

"Don't . . . please. Just don't." She gently took my chin and forced me to make eye-contact with her. "Don't do this to yourself. Not again."

"Nat,"

"Don't 'Nat' me. You weren't you. Like you said, Loki manipulated you. He changed you into a completely different person." She interrupted. "You can't and aren't being held accountable. You tried your best." She tried to convince me. She knew it wasn't working. "Hey, in the end, you are the one that helped stop all of this. You saved the world and that . . . that makes you a hero."

I tried to object, but she wrapped her arms around by bicep and leaned against my neck to state that she didn't want to hear me argue with her. We remained in the same position until we reached our new home.

When we finally arrived on the roof of the Tower, Nat and I waited in silence for a few minutes. When I realized that she didn't want to be rushed of the jet, I remained in my seat due to her still leaning on my body. I stared at the ceiling while she stared at the ground and I came to the conclusion that she didn't want to be here.

"Agent Romanov, Agent Barton, I don't mean to rush you, but I believe the rest of the team is awaiting your arrival." Jarvis told us as I remembered that Tony had programmed him inside almost every house and plane that he owned.

"Give us a sec, Jarvis." I told him, because rushing the Black Widow usually ended with having a bruised jaw.

As I tried to comfort Nat by rubbing her hand, she immediately stood up, grabbed her bags and flashed out of the jet. As I watched her leave the aircraft, I stood there all alone still trying to figure out what happened. As soon as I realized that understanding the Black Widow was already a failed attempt, I gave up. After a few minutes of me staring dumbfounded at the floor, I stood up and exited the aircraft casually with my two bags.

As soon as I got inside, I was amazed at what I saw. Even though the Tower was destroyed during the battle against Loki, Stark had managed to rebuild the whole building in a matter of days. The place was elegant and fancy which wasn't my style, yet it impressed me. I guess I was just grateful to be rooming with Nat and my other teammates.

I didn't realize how much I was admiring the interior because I had totally dazed out from reality. I didn't even realize that Tony was handing me a glass of champagne. It took me a couple of seconds to react, but I took the glass from Tony and dropped my bags right on the floor. I didn't realize how dumb I must've looked. I didn't even acknowledge the fact that Tony had thrown a little party to celebrate me and Natasha's move-in. I smiled at the banner that was hung on the walls that said 'welcome home . . . finally"

After I quickly greeted Bruce, Steve, Tony, and Pepper, I scanned the room for Natasha. I finally found her sitting on the couch trying to avoid contact from everyone in the room. It seemed to work because no one noticed that she looked unhappy.

When I sat next to her, she rolled her eyes at me. "What's wrong?" As always, I receive silence from her. "C'mon Nat. Enjoy the party." She rolled her eyes again. "Pepper's here. Now you don't have to be surrounded by so much testosterone. You can finally have a girlfriend to talk about stuff." I said childishly while she gave me the evil eye. "C'mon, Nat. Say something."

"I'm gonna go." She said as she started to stand up. She looked back at me and saw that I was disappointed. "I have a lot of things to unpack . . . and I want to get settled in before dinner." Those were the last words I heard as she walked past everyone, grabbed her things, and headed to the hallway.

While Nat walked to her new room, Pepper and the other Avengers watched her leave the event. As soon as Nat was out of sight, they all looked at me.

"What happened to you two?" asked Pepper.

"Yeah, what did you do to her, Barton." asked Bruce.

"Please, Barton's probably the victim." Tony finally said. "Romanov clearly just broke his heart." mocked Tony while the others laughed at his comment.

"First of all, she didn't break my heart." I said as I stood up trying to have more authority. "She just needs some time to readjust and adapt to her new home." The others must've taken me seriously because they left me alone from there.

After a few small conversations with Pepper and Steve, Tony decided the party was getting pretty boring so, he decided to send everyone back to their rooms at once. I didn't argue with him, so I took my bags and headed to the hallway that Natasha had disappeared to. In the hallway, I noticed that there were only six doors that were widely spread out from each other. I found that each door had a name on it. Of course, Tony put these names on himself because the names on the doors said things like 'Miss America (Cap), Mr. Anger Management (Bruce), and the Girl Avenger(Nat)'. I finally found 'Bird Boy' on one of the doors and figured it was mind. I was thankful to Tony because he made my room at the end of the hallway which was directly across from Nat's. I tried to open the door, but it was locked then I realized that a pupil scanner had been placed on the side of the door. I put my eyeball in front of the lens and immediately the door opened. I dropped my bags carelessly on the floor and headed for the room across.

"Nat" I said not too loudly as I knocked on the door.

"It's open." She faintly answered.

When I opened the door, I saw that she was sitting on her bed facing the window that was on the opposite side of the room from the door.

I sat on beside her, but she didn't face me. She continued to stare out the window.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked, but assumed she wouldn't answer.

"Everything here reminds me of him." She said in disgust which surprised me because I thought she would remain quiet. She continued to speak. "This building reminds me of him and his stupid plan. This city reminds me of him and his damn army." She shouted as she finally looked at me. I took her hand, but she just sighed. "I feel like he just keeps coming back into my life." I could tell she was frustrated and angry yet sad and helpless at the same time. "I can't shake this feeling that he's going to come back here and . . . torture me with a pain worse than death." I could tell that she was about to say something about him taking over my mind again.

"Listen, Nat." I said in the most comforting voice I could manage. "He's not coming back. I swear on my life that he won't come back."

**To Be Continued**


	3. Chapter 3

Natasha's POV

It's been an entire week since I have moved into the Avengers Tower and I couldn't believe that I had managed to survive the experience.

As I got dressed, I started to realize how much my life has changed ever since living here. For one thing, I had to live everyday with Tony and his annoying comments, but on the upside to that, I had managed a friendship with Pepper. Another thing was how much closer I had got to my teammates. I mean sure, I was still secretive and a mystery, but I think they have a better idea of who I am rather than just the cold, bitter killer. They had finally bonded with the real me, Natasha Romanov, rather than the Black Widow. And I feel that I had gained a whole new bond with each of them. They became my family and friends rather than just coworkers.

As I finished getting ready, I put on jeans and a black buttoned-up shirt. I realized that an hour had past and I was on the verge of being late for breakfast. As usual, Pepper convinced us to bond over breakfast and dinner while we had lunch to ourselves. When I arrived at the dinner table, I saw that the rest of my team was preparing for the meal. Of course, Clint and Steve were the ones cooking because the rest of us would probably destroy the kitchen. Heck, the rest of us would destroy the Tower and make it look even worse than what the Chitauri did to it. I didn't want to just sit around and do nothing because that was Tony's job, so I helped Bruce and Pepper set the table.

When Clint and Steve were finally done, a gigantic stack of waffles and pancakes were placed in the middle of the table. We all hurried ourselves to our seats and began to dig in right away. For the first few minutes, we were all silent except for the chewing of the delicious meal.

"Okay, you guys have a meeting with Fury right after breakfast, so I think its best that you guys hurry up." Pepper reminded us.

"Well if Fury is going to ruin my morning, I think I owe it to myself to at least enjoy breakfast." Tony commented annoyingly while he chewed extra slow. Pepper scoffed and she continued with her meal. The rest of us just looked at Tony and his mouthful of pancakes which made Pepper complain to him even more. The rest of us just laughed at their argument which started out as 'Tony, you are so annoying' and ending with 'I love you, Pepper'. I never fully understood their relationship and I guess I will never bother to try. As thirty minutes past, Clint and I were filled up with enough waffles that we just stared at the others who were still scarfing down their meal.

"Any nightmares?" Clint asked as he always did during every breakfast.

"Nope" I lied as I stood up and proceeded to the kitchen sink.

Of course he followed me. "Are you sure, no nightmares?" He asked again while nudging me.

"I'm sure slept like a baby." I told him as I turned on the sink and started to wash the dishes as a distraction.

"Well, realistically, babies tend to cry often during the nigh Is that what you meant?"

"Okay, fine. I had one bad dream." I said calmly. "It's been a while since I had a nightmare and besides everyone has nightmares, so don't worry about it." I said trying to sound like it wasn't a big deal.

"Yeah, why should I worry. I mean everyone has nightmares." He was back to using his annoying tone. "But some people don't have nightmares that are so bad that they scream and cry in their sleep so loudly that their neighbor next door can hear." He grabbed my hand which forced me to make eye-contact with him. "You said you were okay and told me not to worry."

"I am okay, and besides, part of the deal for me to come here was that you would STOP worrying about me."

I finished washing my dishes and immediately left the kitchen.

Unfortunately, I was reunited with Clint in the board, but I tried to avoid him as much as I can. Luckily, I was sitting in-between Steve and Bruce who made small-talk with me that stopped Clint from conversing with me. After a few minutes, Fury arrived.

As soon as he walked into the room, Clint asked, "Fury, why are we here?"

"Yeah, you said we could take a break." Tony added in a childish tone. Fury gave Tony a dirty look which made Tony grin obnoxiously.

"I have only a couple of minutes so, let's get straight to business." He said authoritative. Before Tony was about to say something which was probably rude or annoying, Fury continued. "I'm here for one reason and one reason onl Loki." He finally said to us which made us jump out of our seats. Before we could surround Fury with questions, he cut us off before we even spoke. He made it clear that he didn't want any questions until he was done speaking. "Loki is back. He escaped from Asgaard yesterday." He paused to see our reaction. "It is unclear where he is, but he is most likely here on Earth. Thor is searching throughout all of Asgaard to find him, but I don't want to take the chance. I want all of you prepared and cautious. According to Thor, a couple nights ago, Loki had stolen some sort of device that could make him teleport anywhere. We are reassembling the team. I've had my suspicions that Loki would return. That is why I made sure you guys were together and accessible."

He implied that he was done by folding his arms. "Fury, does this mean he has the tesseract?" Clint asked as soon as he could.

"I don't think s Thor said he stole some items from his father, Odin, but he didn't mention anything about Loki have the tesseract."

"So what does this mean?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"This means he wants one thing, revenge." Fury said in the coldest voice I could ever imagine him using. As soon as Fury finished his sentence, Clint couldn't stop staring at me with worry in his eyes. Fury then dismissed us from the room and I was the first to leave.

As soon as I reached the hallway, I started sprinting. The run to my room seemed so long. As soon as I reached my door, I got inside, slammed the door shut, and fell straight on the floor. I cuddled up in a ball and shut my eyes.

As I laid in silence for a few moments, I heard the door opened. I was too afraid to open my eyes, so I just waited for my death. A chill came down my back when I felt cold fingers touch my shoulders. I turned around and saw Clint. My heart slowed its rate while my body froze just staring at Clint. Clint fell to the floor and wrapped his arms around me while caressing my hair. "He's back." Those were the only words that I could manage while Clint held me tighter.


End file.
